Channelization for uplink transmissions

ABSTRACT

A method of wireless communication may include transmitting an uplink slot with a first control region, a second control region, and (e.g., optionally) a data region. Each region may include time resources and frequency resources. Transmitting the uplink slot may include transmitting the first control region in an earlier part of the uplink slot and transmitting the second control region (e.g., and the data region) in a later part of the uplink slot. The first control region may include time-critical control information and the second control region may include non-time-critical control information. A receiver receiving the uplink slot may receive the first control region before receiving the data region and the second control region.

CROSS REFERENCES

The present Application for Patent is a Continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/712,584 by Akkarakaran, et al., entitled“Channelization For Uplink Transmissions” filed Sep. 22, 2017, whichclaims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/402,677 byAkkarakaran, et al., entitled “Channelization For Uplink Transmissions,”filed Sep. 30, 2016, assigned to the assignee hereof, and which isexpressly incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

The following relates generally to wireless communication, and morespecifically to configuring resources for uplink transmissions.

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide varioustypes of communication content such as voice, video, packet data,messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable ofsupporting communication with multiple users by sharing the availablesystem resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of suchmultiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA)systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequencydivision multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequencydivision multiple access (OFDMA) systems, (e.g., a Long Term Evolution(LTE) system). A wireless multiple-access communications system mayinclude a number of base stations, each simultaneously supportingcommunication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwiseknown as user equipments (UEs).

In some examples, a wireless multiple-access communication system mayinclude a number of base stations, each simultaneously supportingcommunication for multiple communication devices, otherwise known asUEs. In a LTE or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network, a set of one or more basestations may define an eNodeB (eNB). In other examples (e.g., in a newradio (NR) or 5G network), a wireless multiple access communicationsystem may include a number of smart radio heads (RHs) in communicationwith a number of access node controllers (ANCs), where a set of one ormore RHs, in communication with an ANC, defines a base station (e.g., aneNB or gNB). A base station may communicate with a set of UEs ondownlink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a base station to a UE)and uplink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a UE to a basestation).

An uplink transmission may include data as well as control information(e.g., a rank indicator (RI), a sounding reference signal (SRS), etc.).In some wireless communications systems, the actual data is multiplexedtogether with the control information within an uplink slot such that areceiver must decode a majority or all of the slot before being able todecode the control information. Multiplexing and transmitting data inthis way may increase decoding latency or otherwise reduce efficiency ina wireless communications system.

SUMMARY

Methods, systems, and apparatuses for configuring and transmittinguplink transmissions are described. A device, such as a UE, may transmitan uplink slot having different regions of information or data such thatcertain regions are transmitted before other regions. In some cases, aslot may alternatively be referred to as a subframe. For example, a UEmay transmit the uplink slot such that one or more regions (e.g., afirst control region) is transmitted before one or more other regions(e.g., another control or a data region). Likewise, a receiver, such asa base station, receiving the uplink slot may receive one or moreregions (e.g., the first control region) before one or more otherregions (e.g., the other control region or the data region). In somecases, the control region transmitted and received first containstime-critical control information. Transmitting an uplink slot in thisway may facilitate the reception and decoding of time-critical controlinformation before the entire slot (or the nearly the entire slot) isreceived and decoded, thereby reducing latency associated with decodingand responding to the time-critical control information.

A method of wireless communication is described. The method may includetransmitting an uplink slot comprising a first control region and asecond control region, the first control region including first timeresources and first frequency resources and the second control regionincluding second time resources and second frequency resources, whereintransmitting the uplink slot comprises transmitting the first controlregion in an earlier portion of the uplink slot and transmitting thesecond control region in a later portion of the uplink slot.

An apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus mayinclude means for transmitting an uplink slot comprising a first controlregion and a second control region, the first control region includingfirst time resources and first frequency resources and the secondcontrol region including second time resources and second frequencyresources, wherein transmitting the uplink slot comprises transmittingthe first control region in an earlier portion of the uplink slot andtransmitting the second control region in a later portion of the uplinkslot.

Another apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatusmay include a processor, memory in electronic communication with theprocessor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions maybe operable to cause the processor to transmit an uplink slot comprisinga first control region and a second control region, the first controlregion including first time resources and first frequency resources andthe second control region including second time resources and secondfrequency resources, wherein transmitting the uplink slot comprisestransmitting the first control region in an earlier portion of theuplink slot and transmitting the second control region in a laterportion of the uplink slot.

A non-transitory computer readable medium for wireless communication isdescribed. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may includeinstructions operable to cause a processor to transmit an uplink slotcomprising a first control region and a second control region, the firstcontrol region including first time resources and first frequencyresources and the second control region including second time resourcesand second frequency resources, wherein transmitting the uplink slotcomprises transmitting the first control region in an earlier portion ofthe uplink slot and transmitting the second control region in a laterportion of the uplink slot.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the later portion of theuplink slot further comprises a data region, the data region includingthird time resources and third frequency resources.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the transmitting the uplinkslot further comprises transmitting an entirety of the first controlregion before transmitting an entirety of the data region and anentirety of the second control region.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the first control region, thesecond control region, and the data region are scheduled independentlyfrom one another.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the second control regionoccupies a subset of the later portion of the uplink slot and the dataregion occupies a remainder of the later portion of the uplink slot.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the first frequency resources,the second frequency resources, or both comprise every assignedfrequency resource of the uplink slot.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the first frequency resources,the second frequency resources, or both comprise a subset of theassigned frequency resources of the uplink slot.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the first control region, orthe second control region, or a combination thereof span every timeresource of the uplink slot.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the first control regioncomprises time-critical control information.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the time-critical controlinformation comprises a positive acknowledgement (ACK), a negativeacknowledgement (NACK), directional communication information, a channelquality indication (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a RI, ascheduling information indicator (SI), a beam strength measurement, asounding reference signal (SRS), or a combination thereof.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the second control regioncomprises non-time-critical control information.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the non-time-critical controlinformation comprises a positive ACK, NACK, directional communicationinformation, CQI, PMI, RI, SI, a beam signal measurement, SRS, or acombination thereof.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for receiving control signalingindicating the first time resources, the first frequency resources, thesecond time resources, the second frequency resources, or anycombination thereof.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the control signalingindicates at least one of frequency-first modulation or time-firstmodulation for the first control region, the second control region, orthe data region.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the control signalingcomprises physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) signaling or radioresource control (RRC) signaling.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, a location of the firstcontrol region within the uplink slot may be based at least in part on atype of control information in the first control region.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, a location of the firstcontrol region within the uplink slot may be based at least in part on alocation of one or more demodulation reference signals (DMRS) within theuplink slot.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the uplink slot comprises afirst gap between a first end of the uplink slot and a first end of thefirst control region, or a second gap between a second end of the uplinkslot and a first end of the second control region, or both, wherein thefirst gap or the second gap, or both, comprises at least one timeresource.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the time resources compriseorthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols or s discreteFourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the frequency resourcescomprise frequency tones.

A method of wireless communication is described. The method may includereceiving an uplink slot comprising a first control region and a secondcontrol region, the first control region including first time resourcesand first frequency resources and the second control region includingsecond time resources and second frequency resources, wherein receivingthe uplink slot comprises receiving the first control region in anearlier portion of the uplink slot and receiving the second controlregion in a later portion of the uplink slot.

An apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus mayinclude means for receiving an uplink slot comprising a first controlregion and a second control region, the first control region includingfirst time resources and first frequency resources and the secondcontrol region including second time resources and second frequencyresources, wherein receiving the uplink slot comprises receiving thefirst control region in an earlier portion of the uplink slot andreceiving the second control region in a later portion of the uplinkslot.

Another apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatusmay include a processor, memory in electronic communication with theprocessor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions maybe operable to cause the processor to receive an uplink slot comprisinga first control region and a second control region, the first controlregion including first time resources and first frequency resources andthe second control region including second time resources and secondfrequency resources, wherein receiving the uplink slot comprisesreceiving the first control region in an earlier portion of the uplinkslot and receiving the second control region in a later portion of theuplink slot.

A non-transitory computer readable medium for wireless communication isdescribed. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may includeinstructions operable to cause a processor to receive an uplink slotcomprising a first control region and a second control region, the firstcontrol region including first time resources and first frequencyresources and the second control region including second time resourcesand second frequency resources, wherein receiving the uplink slotcomprises receiving the first control region in an earlier portion ofthe uplink slot and receiving the second control region in a laterportion of the uplink slot.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the later portion of theuplink slot further comprises a data region, the data region includingthird time resources and third frequency resources.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the transmitting the uplinkslot further comprises transmitting an entirety of the first controlregion before transmitting an entirety of the data region and anentirety of the second control region.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the first control region, thesecond control region, and the data region are scheduled independentlyfrom one another.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the second control regionoccupies a subset of the later portion of the uplink slot and the dataregion occupies a remainder of the later portion of the uplink slot.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the first frequency resources,the second frequency resources, or both comprise every assignedfrequency resource of the uplink slot.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the first frequency resources,the second frequency resources, or both comprise a subset of theassigned frequency resources of the uplink slot.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the first control region, orthe second control region, or a combination thereof span every timeresource of the uplink slot.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the first control regioncomprises time-critical control information.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the time-critical controlinformation comprises an ACK, a NACK, directional communicationinformation, CQI, PMI, RI, SI, a beam strength measurement, SRS, or acombination thereof.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the second control regioncomprises non-time-critical control information.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the non-time-critical controlinformation comprises a positive ACK, NACK, directional communicationinformation, CQI, PMI, RI, SI, a beam signal measurement, SRS, or acombination thereof.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for transmitting control signalingindicating first time resources, first frequency resources, second timeresources, second frequency resources, or any combination thereof.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the control signalingindicates at least one of frequency-first modulation or time-firstmodulation for the first control region, the second control region, orthe data region.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the control signalingcomprises PDCCH signaling or RRC signaling.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, a location of the firstcontrol region within the uplink slot may be based at least in part on atype of control information in the first control region.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, a location of the firstcontrol region within the uplink slot may be based at least in part on alocation of one or more DMRS within the uplink slot.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the uplink slot comprises afirst gap between a first end of the uplink slot and a first end of thefirst control region, or a second gap between a second end of the uplinkslot and a first end of the second control region, or both, wherein thefirst gap or the second gap, or both, comprises at least one timeresource.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the time resources compriseOFDM symbols or DFT-s-OFDM symbols.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the frequency resourcescomprise frequency tones.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a system for wireless communicationthat supports channelization for uplink transmissions in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a system for wireless communicationthat supports channelization for uplink transmissions in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a wireless communications message froma device that supports channelization for uplink transmissions inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a wireless communications message froma device that supports channelization for uplink transmissions inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a wireless communications message froma device that supports channelization for uplink transmissions inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a wireless communications message froma device that supports channelization for uplink transmissions inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 shows a flow-diagram of a wireless communications system thatsupports channelization for uplink transmissions in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 8 through 10 show block diagrams of a device that supportschannelization for uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a system including a UE thatsupports channelization for uplink transmissions in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 12 through 14 show block diagrams of a device that supportschannelization for uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 15 illustrates a block diagram of a system including a base stationthat supports channelization for uplink transmissions in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure; and

FIGS. 16 through 19 illustrate methods for channelization for uplinktransmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to aspects of the present disclosure, a UE may transmit anuplink message to a base station such that certain regions ofinformation or data within the uplink message are transmitted beforeother regions. The base station receiving the uplink message maylikewise receive and/or decode the regions that were transmitted firstbefore receiving and/or decoding the other regions. In some examples, anuplink slot includes a region containing time-critical controlinformation and a region containing non-time-critical controlinformation. In some cases, the uplink slot further includes a regioncontaining data. The UE may transmit the uplink message such that thetime-critical control region is transmitted in an earlier portion of theuplink slot and the non-time-critical control region (e.g., and the dataregion) is transmitted in a later portion of the uplink slot.

In some examples, the UE may transmit the uplink message such that anentirety of the time-critical control information is transmitted beforean entirety of the data region and/or an entirety of thenon-time-critical control information. Specifically, in some examples,the UE may transmit the uplink message such that the last part of thetime-critical control information is transmitted before the last part ofthe data and/or non-time critical control information is transmitted.Such a transmission scheme may occur even when some parts of the data orthe non-time-critical control information are transmitted before someparts of the time-critical control information (e.g., such that uplinkcontrol information may be configurable as compared to data). A basestation receiving the uplink message may receive and decode thetime-critical control information before receiving and/or decoding thenon-time-critical control information or the data.

An uplink slot containing separate control regions (e.g., with orwithout a separate data region) may be populated according to afrequency-first scheme. For example, within each region of the uplinkslot, the modulation symbols may be arranged along the frequency andtime resources such that a receiver decoding the modulation symbols maydecode a particular region of resources before having to decode amajority or all of the slot. Arranging the modulation symbols using thefrequency-first scheme may facilitate early decoding of data within theslot or within each region.

Aspects of the disclosure are initially described in the context of awireless communications system. For example, wireless communicationssystems supporting the configuration and transmission of an uplinkmessage containing separate control regions and data regions isdescribed. Aspects of the disclosure are further illustrated by anddescribed with reference to apparatus diagrams, system diagrams, andflowcharts that relate to channelization for uplink transmissions.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 100 inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The wirelesscommunications system 100 includes base stations 105, UEs 115, and acore network 130. In some examples, the wireless communications system100 may be a LTE (or LTE-Advanced) network. The wireless communicationssystem 100 may support configuring an uplink message from UE 115 to basestation 105 that contains one or more control regions and a data region.According to some aspects, a UE 115 may transmit, and the base station105 may receive, an uplink message such that certain regions within theuplink message (e.g., a region containing time-critical controlinformation) are received and decoded before other regions (e.g., aregion containing non-time-critical control information).

Base stations 105 may wirelessly communicate with UEs 115 via one ormore base station antennas. Base stations 105 described herein mayinclude or may be referred to by those skilled in the art as a basetransceiver station, a radio base station, an access point, a radiotransceiver, a NodeB, an eNodeB (eNB), a next-generation Node B orgiga-nodeB (either of which may be referred to as a gNB), a Home NodeB,a Home eNodeB, or some other suitable terminology. Wirelesscommunications system 100 may include base stations 105 of differenttypes (e.g., macro or small cell base stations). The UEs 115 describedherein may be able to communicate with various types of base stations105 and network equipment including macro eNBs, small cell eNBs, gNBs,relay base stations, and the like.

Each base station 105 may provide communication coverage for arespective geographic coverage area 110. The geographic coverage area110 for a base station 105 may be divided into sectors making up only aportion of the geographic coverage area 110, and each sector may beassociated with a cell. For example, each base station 105 may providecommunication coverage for a macro cell, a small cell, a hot spot, orother types of cells, or various combinations thereof. In some examples,a base station 105 may be movable and therefore provide communicationcoverage for a moving geographic coverage area 110. In some examples,different geographic coverage areas 110 associated with differenttechnologies may overlap, and overlapping geographic coverage areas 110associated with different technologies may be supported by the same basestation 105 or by different base stations 105. The wirelesscommunications system 100 may include, for example, a heterogeneousLTE/LTE-A or New Radio (NR) network in which different types of basestations 105 provide coverage for various geographic coverage areas 110.

Communication links 125 shown in wireless communications system 100 mayinclude uplink transmissions from a UE 115 to a base station 105, ordownlink transmissions, from a base station 105 to a UE 115. UEs 115 maybe dispersed throughout the wireless communications system 100, and eachUE 115 may be stationary or mobile. A UE 115 may also be referred to asa mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriberunit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wirelessdevice, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobilesubscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wirelessterminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, aclient, or some other suitable terminology. A UE 115 may also be acellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, awireless communication device, a handheld device, a tablet computer, alaptop computer, a cordless phone, a personal electronic device, ahandheld device, a personal computer, a wireless local loop (WLL)station, an Internet of things (IoT) device, an Internet of Everything(IoE) device, a machine type communication (MTC) device, an appliance,an automobile, or the like.

Base stations 105 may communicate with the core network 130 and with oneanother. For example, base stations 105 may interface with the corenetwork 130 through backhaul links 132 (e.g., S1, etc.). Base stations105 may communicate with one another over backhaul links 134 (e.g., X2,etc.) either directly or indirectly (e.g., through core network 130).Base stations 105 may perform radio configuration and scheduling forcommunication with UEs 115, or may operate under the control of a basestation controller (not shown). In some examples, base stations 105 maybe macro cells, small cells, hot spots, or the like. Base stations 105may also be referred to as eNodeBs (eNBs) 105.

In some cases, wireless system 100 may utilize both licensed andunlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands. For example, wireless system100 may employ LTE License Assisted Access (LTE-LAA) or LTE Unlicensed(LTE U) radio access technology or NR technology in an unlicensed bandsuch as the 5 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band. Whenoperating in unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands, wireless devicessuch as base stations 105 and UEs 115 may employ listen-before-talk(LBT) procedures to ensure the channel is clear before transmittingdata. In some cases, operations in unlicensed bands may be based on acarrier aggregation (CA) configuration in conjunction with componentcarriers (CCs) operating in a licensed band. Operations in unlicensedspectrum may include downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions, orboth. Duplexing in unlicensed spectrum may be based on frequencydivision duplexing (FDD), time division duplexing (TDD), or acombination of both.

Wireless communications system 100 may operate in an ultra-highfrequency (UHF) region using frequency bands from 300 MHz to 3 GHz. Thisregion may also be known as the decimeter band, since the wavelengthsrange from approximately one decimeter to one meter in length. UHF wavesmay propagate mainly by line of sight, and may be blocked by buildingsand environmental features. However, the waves may penetrate wallssufficiently to provide service to UEs 115 located indoors. Transmissionof UHF waves is characterized by smaller antennas and shorter range(e.g., less than 100 km) compared to transmission using the smallerfrequencies (and longer waves) of the high frequency (HF) or very highfrequency (VHF) portion of the spectrum. Wireless communications system100 may also operate in a super high frequency (SHF) region usingfrequency bands from 3 GHz to 30 GHz, otherwise known as the centimeterband. In some cases, wireless communication system 100 may also utilizeextremely high frequency (EHF) portions of the spectrum (e.g., from 30GHz to 300 GHz), also known as the millimeter band. Systems that usethis region may be referred to as millimeter wave (mmW) systems. Thus,EHF antennas may be even smaller and more closely spaced than UHFantennas. In some cases, this may facilitate use of antenna arrayswithin a UE 115 (e.g., for directional beamforming). However, EHFtransmissions may be subject to even greater atmospheric attenuation andshorter range than UHF transmissions. Techniques disclosed herein may beemployed across transmissions that use one or more different frequencyregions.

Wireless communications system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW)communications between UEs 115 and base stations 105. Devices operatingin mmW, SHF, or EHF bands may have multiple antennas to allowbeamforming. That is, a base station 105 may use multiple antennas orantenna arrays to conduct beamforming operations for directionalcommunications with a UE 115. Beamforming (which may also be referred toas spatial filtering or directional transmission) is a signal processingtechnique that may be used at a transmitter (e.g., a base station 105)to shape and/or steer an overall antenna beam in the direction of atarget receiver (e.g., a UE 115). This may be achieved by combiningelements in an antenna array in such a way that transmitted signals atparticular angles experience constructive interference while othersexperience destructive interference. For example, base station 105 mayhave an antenna array with a number of rows and columns of antenna portsthat the base station 105 may use for beamforming in its communicationwith UE 115. Signals may be transmitted multiple times in differentdirections (e.g., each transmission may be beamformed differently). AmmW receiver (e.g., a UE 115) may try multiple beams (e.g., antennasubarrays) while receiving the synchronization signals. Multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) wireless systems use a transmission schemebetween a transmitter (e.g., a base station 105) and a receiver (e.g., aUE 115), where both transmitter and receiver are equipped with multipleantennas.

In some cases, the antennas of a base station 105 or UE 115 may belocated within one or more antenna arrays, which may support beamformingor MIMO operation. One or more base station antennas or antenna arraysmay be collocated at an antenna assembly, such as an antenna tower. Insome cases, antennas or antenna arrays associated with a base station105 may be located in diverse geographic locations. A base station 105may use multiple antennas or antenna arrays to conduct beamformingoperations for directional communications with a UE 115.

Multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) wireless systems use atransmission scheme between a transmitter (e.g., a base station 105) anda receiver (e.g., a UE 115), where both transmitter and receiver areequipped with multiple antennas. Some portions of wirelesscommunications system 100 may use beamforming. For example, base station105 may have an antenna array with a number of rows and columns ofantenna ports that the base station 105 may use for beamforming in itscommunication with UE 115. Signals may be transmitted multiple times indifferent directions (e.g., each transmission may be beamformeddifferently). A mmW receiver (e.g., a UE 115) may try multiple beams(e.g., antenna subarrays) while receiving synchronization signals (e.g.,or other reference signals). Each of these beams may be referred to as areceive beam in aspects of the present disclosure. In some cases, theantennas of a base station 105 or UE 115 may be located within one ormore antenna arrays, which may support beamforming or MIMO operation.One or more base station antennas or antenna arrays may be collocated atan antenna assembly, such as an antenna tower. In some cases, antennasor antenna arrays associated with a base station 105 may be located indiverse geographic locations. A base station 105 may multiple useantennas or antenna arrays to conduct beamforming operations fordirectional communications with a UE 115.

The wireless communications system 100 may support the use of uplinkreference signals transmitted from a UE 115 to a base station 105. Forexample, a DMRS may be transmitted in an uplink message and may be usedby a base station 105 for channel estimation and to assist in thedemodulation of uplink channels. In some examples, DMRS may be mappedonto one or more hops of an uplink slot, where a hop may refer to a setof OFDM symbols in which the same frequency tones (e.g., subcarriers)are used for transmission; different hops may in some cases usedifferent frequency tones. For example, each hop of an uplink slot maycontain a DMRS transmission.

Wireless communications system 100 may support different signalmodulation techniques for the uplink and downlink transmissions (e.g.,based on power limitations of a UE 115). For example, wirelesscommunications system 100 may use OFDM for downlink transmissions, andDFT-s-OFDM for uplink transmissions. In wireless systems operating inthe mmW spectrum (e.g., or other similar bands), OFDM may be employedfor UL transmissions depending on power limitations of the UE.

In some cases, an uplink transmission configured for DFT-s-OFDM maycontain control information and data interleaved together. For example,an uplink slot of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) may containuplink control information (UCI) interleaved with the actual data to betransmitted. In some cases, the data and control information areinterleaved using a scheme such that a majority or all of the slot isdecoded before the control information is decoded. The interleavingprocedure may, for example, include populating a RI first. In somecases, populating the RI includes mapping modulation symbols within theslot along the time dimension first (e.g., row-wise from the perspectiveof a time-frequency grid as illustrated in FIG. 3) and then mappingmodulation symbols along the frequency dimension (e.g., column-wise fromthe perspective of a time-frequency grid). Representing a slot as atime-frequency grid, this RI populating may include beginning at thebottom left of the grid, progressing forward in the time dimension alonga particular frequency resource (i.e., along a particular row), movingup along the frequency dimension (i.e., to another row), and thenprogressing backwards in the time dimension at a higher frequencyresource than before (e.g., creating a zig-zag pattern). This type ofresource mapping may be referred to as a time-first scheme.

After the RI is populated, the CQI/PMI and the data (e.g., sharedchannel (SCH) data) may be populated in a similar row-wise fashion,starting at the top-left of the time-frequency grid and progressingforward in the time dimension and down in the frequency dimension. Othercontrol information such as ACK and/or NACK symbols may be populatedsimilarly to the RI. In cases where an ACK/NACK symbol overlaps with aSCH symbol, the ACK/NACK symbol may replace (e.g., puncture) the SCHsymbol. In some cases, ACK/NACK symbols may be populated near the DMRSsymbols within the slot. Because the DMRS symbols provide an indicationof the channel quality for those particular time and frequencyresources, symbols near those time and frequency resources may bereceived and decoded with a higher level of accuracy than if the symbolswere farther away in time or frequency.

In some examples, as described in the present disclosure, instead ofpopulating an uplink slot such that all or most of the slot is decodedbefore certain data within the slot can be decoded, an uplink slot maybe divided into regions of data and configured such that a UE 115transmits certain regions before other regions. In this way, a basestation 105 may receive and/or decode certain regions (e.g., withouthaving to decode another region or the entire slot). In some cases, anuplink slot may be divided into two or more regions: a time-criticalcontrol region, a non-time-critical control region, and (e.g.,optionally) a data region. The data region may contain the actual datato be transmitted (e.g., payload). In some alternative cases, an uplinktransmission may contain one control region and a data region, just adata region, etc. The use of multiple control regions may in some casesbe enabled (e.g., configured) and/or disabled using control signaling,as described further below.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communication system 200 forchannelization of uplink transmissions in accordance with aspects of thepresent disclosure. The wireless communication system 200 may include aUE 115-a and a base station 105-a, which may be examples of the UE 115and base station 105 described with reference to FIG. 1. Base station105-a and UE 115-a may send and receive messages over a communicationlink 205, for example using an uplink slot 210. The uplink slot 210 maybe divided into separate regions containing control information anddata. In some examples, the uplink slot 210 is divided into atime-critical control region 215, a data region 220, andnon-time-critical control region 225. The size and location of theseregions within the uplink slot 210 are for illustrative purposes only,and as discussed below, may be arranged and sized in accordance withvarious aspects of the disclosure. Additionally, in some cases one ormore of the regions may be omitted for a given uplink slot 210 (e.g.,such that uplink slot 210 may in some cases contain time-criticalcontrol region 215 and non-time critical control region 225 but not dataregion 220).

The time-critical control region 215 may contain control informationthat is more time sensitive than the data itself or other less timesensitive control information. For example, feedback informationregarding a previous transmission (e.g., ACK/NACK control information)may be considered time-critical because such information may be used bythe base station 105-a to take some other action that is independentfrom the rest of the information in the uplink slot 210. In some cases,the base station 105-a may receive or decode the time-critical controlregion 215 before receiving or decoding the remainder of the uplink slot210 (e.g., which may be referred to as early decoding). Early decodingthe time-critical control information within the time-critical controlregion 215 may allow the base station 105-a to schedule the UE 115-awith resources based on the time-critical control information (e.g.,without having to wait to decode the remainder of the uplink slot 210).Although ACK/NACK is provided as an example of time-critical controlinformation, it should be appreciated that other types of controlinformation may be considered time-critical. In some cases, controlinformation related to the directionality of transmission and receptionof data in the context of beam forming (e.g., a beam strengthmeasurement in mmW communication systems) may be consideredtime-critical. Other examples may include any type of controlinformation that would be beneficial to decode before decoding otherdata within the slot or the slot itself. In some cases, RI, CQI, PMI,SRS, or a SI may be considered time-critical control information.

The non-time-critical control region 225 may contain control informationthat is less time sensitive than the information in the time-criticalcontrol region 215. For example, non-time-critical control informationmay include RI, CQI, PMI, SI, ACK/NACK, or any combination thereof.Whether a particular type of control information is consideredtime-critical or not may be statically pre-configured, may besemi-statically or dynamically configured by the base station 105-a orsome other network entity (e.g., through downlink control signaling), ormay be determined (e.g., autonomously) by the UE 115-a. Furthermore,whether control information is considered time-critical may changethroughout the duration of a communication session (e.g., may changefrom one uplink slot 210 to the next).

In some examples, the UE 115-a may interleave or otherwise populate theuplink slot 210 such that certain regions, as discussed above, aretransmitted and received before others. A region of uplink slot 210 mayinclude time and frequency resources and may be divided into timeresources (e.g., symbols, such as OFDM or DFT-s-OFDM symbols) andfrequency resources (e.g., frequency tones or subcarriers). In eachregion, the modulation symbols may be populated using a frequency-firstscheme instead of a time-first scheme. Frequency-first population mayrefer to how the symbols of data are spread or grouped across the timeand frequency resources within uplink slot 210, which may affect theorder in which these symbols are received or decoded. For example, in afrequency-first scheme, symbols may be arranged along the frequencydimension for a given time increment before other time resources areutilized. Frequency-first population may group certain types ofinformation into regions (e.g., time-critical control information ordata) within uplink slot 210, and may also arrange certain data orinformation within a particular region according to a certain order(e.g., more important or time sensitive data towards the beginning of aregion).

Frequency-first population may include populating a contiguous band offrequency resources (e.g., not skipping any frequency resources) with aparticular type of information (e.g., control information or data)within a given time increment. In other cases, the frequency resourcesfor a given time increment may be populated in an alternating patternwith data from two or more regions. For example, for a given timeincrement, a subset of frequency resources may be populated with controlinformation (e.g., time-critical control information) and a differentsubset of frequency resources may be populated with data.

Populating symbols within an uplink slot using a frequency-first schememay affect the timing of when symbols or regions of data aretransmitted, received, or decoded. In some cases, the UE 115-a mayinterleave data and control information into one or more regions withinthe uplink slot 210 according to a frequency-first pattern. For example,time-critical control data may be interleaved in the time-criticalcontrol region 215 such that it is transmitted and received (or decoded)before other regions of the uplink slot 210 are received. For example,the time-critical control region 215 may be transmitted in an earlierportion of the uplink slot 210 and the data region 220 and thenon-time-critical control region 225 may be transmitted in a laterportion of the uplink slot 210. In some examples, the UE 115-a maytransmit the uplink slot 210 such that an entirety of the time-criticalcontrol region 215 is transmitted before an entirety of the data region220 and/or an entirety of the non-time-critical control region 225.Specifically, in some examples, the UE 115-a may transmit the uplinkslot 210 such that the last part of the time-critical control region 215is transmitted before the last part of the data region 220 istransmitted and the last part of the non-time-critical control region225. This may occur even when some parts of the data region 220 or thenon-time-critical control region 225 are transmitted before some partsof the time-critical control region 215 is transmitted.

Similarly, data and non-critical control information (e.g., in the dataregion 220 and the non-time-critical control region 225, respectively)may be interleaved into the uplink slot 210 in such a way as to controlthe order of their transmission and reception. In some cases,time-critical control information may be transmitted and received beforedata and non-time-critical control information, thereby facilitatingearly-decoding of the time-critical information.

The base station 105-a may signal to the UE 115-a through downlinkcontrol signaling 230 a procedure or configuration for arranging dataand control information within the uplink slot 210. In this way, thebase station 105-a may signal to the UE 115-a the location of thetime-critical control region 215, the data region 220, and/or thenon-time-critical control region 225 within the uplink slot 210. Forexample, the base station 105-a may indicate to the UE 115-a whether touse frequency-first mapping (e.g., frequency-first modulation) ortime-first mapping (e.g., time-first modulation) for a given controlregion. In some cases, allocation of control information may be signaleddynamically using PDCCH, or semi-statically using RRC signaling.Additionally or alternatively, the location of control information ordata within a slot may be statically configured.

In some examples, the location of a control region or a data region maybe determined based on the type of control information beingtransmitted. For example, ACK/NACK control information or directionalcontrol information may be located at a location within the slot that isrelatively close to a reference signal (e.g., DMRS).

In some cases, the time-critical control region 215 or thenon-time-critical control region 225 may occupy the entire frequencyspan of the assigned resources of the uplink slot 210. In some othercases, both regions (time-critical control region 215 andnon-time-critical control region 225) may occupy the entire frequencyspan of the assigned resources, which may be an example of a timedivision multiplexing (TDM) design. For example, the uplink slot 210 mayinclude the time-critical control region 215, followed by the dataregion 220, followed by the non-time-critical control region 225. Such ascenario may facilitate reducing signaling overhead, since the controlregions occupy the entire frequency span of the assigned frequencyresources. In some cases, time-critical control region 215 andnon-time-critical control region 225 may be independently scheduled(e.g., may be scheduled by separate scheduling grants or by separatefields within a same scheduling grant). In some cases, the data region220 may be absent. For example, the time-critical control region 215 maycomprise a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for UE 115-aand the non-time-critical control region 225 may comprise a second PUCCHfor UE 115-a (e.g., such that the first PUCCH and the second PUCCH maybe time-division multiplexed within a given uplink slot 210).

In some other cases, the time-critical control region 215 or thenon-time-critical control region 225 may alone or together occupy theentire time span of the uplink slot 210. Such a scenario may an exampleof a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) design.

In some examples, the uplink slot 210 may include one or more gapsbetween the regions and/or between the regions and the beginning and/orend of the uplink slot 210. For example, the uplink slot 210 may includea first gap between the beginning of the uplink slot 210 and thebeginning of the time-critical control region 215. Additionally oralternatively, the uplink slot 210 may include a second gap between theend of the uplink slot 210 and the end of the non-time-critical controlregion 225. Each of these gaps may include one or more increments oftime resources (e.g., one or more DFT-s-OFDM symbol periods). One orboth of the gaps may be populated with data from the data region 220.Such gaps between the control regions and the ends of the uplink slot210 may protect the control regions from switching transients in timedivision duplexing (TDD) operation.

Furthermore, in some cases, the frequency tones (or subcarriers)occupied by the time-critical control region 215, or thenon-time-critical control region 225, or a combination thereof may be asubset of the resources allocated for uplink slot 210, while theremainder of the allocated resources may be occupied by the data region220. In some cases, the time-critical control region 215 andnon-time-critical control region 225 may be mapped to separate sides ofPUSCH (e.g., with different subsets of frequency resources fortime-critical control region 215 and non-time-critical control region225). Control symbols may benefit from increased frequency diversity. Insome other cases, the subsets may be different for different OFDMsymbols. For example, in some cases, the total number of modulationsymbols to be populated may not fit into an M×N grid, where M maysignify the number of tones, and N the number of rotated symbols. Insuch a scenario, the control region (e.g., time-critical control region215, non-time-critical control region 225, or a combination thereof) mayhave fewer tones in the last OFDM symbol of the uplink slot 210.

In some cases, frequency-first mapping may be deployed in bothDFT-s-OFDM and OFDM schemes. DFT-s-OFDM may use a pilot for channelestimation (e.g., DMRS), that may span the assigned frequency resourcesof the uplink slot 210. In some cases, DMRS patterns with pilotsdistributed across time and frequency may be possible with OFDMA.

In some cases, it may be beneficial to locate time-critical controlregion 215 in proximity with the DMRS pilot. Furthermore,frequency-first mapping may allow time-critical control region 215 to beshifted in frequency, while maintaining a location in time closer to theDMRS pilot. In some other cases, frequency tones chosen for control(e.g., time-critical control region 215) may be chosen so as to locatecontrol modulation symbols in proximity with DMRS symbols.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a wireless communications message 300supporting channelization of uplink transmissions in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communications message300 may contain an uplink slot 305, which may be an example of theuplink slot 210 described with reference to FIG. 2. The uplink slot 305may include time and frequency resources such as one or more timeincrements 310 (e.g., DFT-s-OFDM symbols) and one or more frequencyincrements 315 (e.g., tones) and may be represented as a time-frequencygrid. It should be understood that other increments of time andfrequency may be used, depending on the type of slot or type of wirelesssystem employed.

The uplink slot 305 may be divided into a separate time-critical controlregion 320, a data region 330, and a non-time-critical control region325. Each region may occupy one or more frequency and time resources.The location of each region may refer to the time and frequencyresources occupied by the region within the uplink slot 305. Also, thelocation of regions may be referred to as earlier or later depending ontheir respective location along the time dimension within the uplinkslot 305. For example, the time-critical control region 320 may bereferred to as being in an earlier portion of the uplink slot 305, andthe non-time-critical control region 325 may be referred to as being ina later portion of the uplink slot 305. The data region 330 may also bereferred to as being in a later portion of the uplink slot 305 withrespect to the time-critical control region 320 because at least aportion of the data region 330 occupies time resources that are later intime than those occupied by the time-critical control region 320. Insome cases the non-time-critical control region 325 may occupy a subsetof the later portion of the uplink slot 305 and the data region 330 mayoccupy a remainder of the later portion of the uplink slot 305.

In accordance with aspects of the disclosure, the location of eachregion may be configured such that certain regions are transmitted andthen received (or decoded) in a particular order, which may facilitateearly decoding of some regions with respect to other regions of theuplink slot 305 or the uplink slot 305 as a whole. In some examples, aUE 115 may transmit the uplink slot 305 to a base station 105.Transmitting the uplink slot 305 may include transmitting thetime-critical control region 320 in an earlier portion of the uplinkslot 305 and transmitting the data region 330 and the non-time-criticalcontrol region 325 in a later portion of the uplink slot 305.

In some examples, transmitting the uplink slot 305 may includetransmitting an entirety of the time-critical control region 320 beforetransmitting an entirety of the data region 330 and an entirety of thenon-time-critical control region 325. In such examples, the last timeincrement 310 of the time-critical control region 320 is transmittedbefore the last time increment 310 of the non-time-critical controlregion 325 and the last time increment 310 of the data region 330 aretransmitted. Even though some of the data from the data region 330 maybe transmitted before the last time increment 310 of the time-criticalcontrol region 320 is transmitted, an entirety of the data region 330 isconsidered transmitted when the last time increment 310 of the dataregion 330 is transmitted.

One or more of the regions of the uplink slot 305 may be modulatedfrequency-first, as described above with reference to FIG. 2. Inaccordance with a frequency-first interleaving pattern, the frequencyincrements 315 within the first time increment 310 (e.g., the closestincrement to the origin of the time-frequency grid) of the time-criticalcontrol region 320 may be populated with time-critical controlinformation before the frequency increments 315 within a subsequent timeincrement 310 are populated with time-critical control information. Asimilar frequency-first interleaving pattern may also be used topopulate the data region 330 and the non-time-critical control region325. Populating the regions of uplink slot 305 according to afrequency-first pattern may allow for the time-critical control region320 to be transmitted and received before the data region 330 and/or thenon-time-critical control region 325.

Also, although the separate regions of the uplink slot 305 are shown asnon-overlapping, in some examples, the one or more regions may overlapsuch that the time or frequency resources corresponding to theoverlapping regions alternate in either a contiguous or non-contiguousmanner. For example, within the time-critical control region 320, someof the frequency increments 315 may be populated with data from the dataregion 330. In this way, the frequency increments 315 for thetime-critical control region 320 are non-contiguous, but insteadalternate with frequency increments 315 populated with data. Thenon-contiguous population of frequency (or time) resources may also beapplied to the non-time-critical control region 325.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a wireless communications message 400supporting channelization of uplink transmissions in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communications message400 may contain an uplink slot 405, which may be an example of theuplink slot 210 or 305 described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. Theuplink slot 405 may include time and frequency resources such as one ormore time increments 410 (e.g., DFT-s-OFDM symbols) and one or morefrequency increments 415 (e.g., subcarriers or frequency tones) and maybe represented as a time-frequency grid. It should be understood thatother increments of time and frequency may be used, depending on thetype of slot or type of wireless system employed.

The uplink slot 405 may be divided into a time-critical control region420, a data region 430, and a non-time-critical control region 425. Asshown, the time-critical control region 420 and the non-time-criticalcontrol region 425 together occupy the entire time span of the uplinkslot 405. This configuration may be an example of an FDM design. Inother cases, one or both of the time-critical control region 420 or thenon-time-critical control region 425 may alone occupy the entire timespan of the uplink slot 405 (located on separate frequency resources).

As discussed with reference to FIG. 3, one or more of the regions ofuplink slot 405 may overlap with one or more other regions. For example,the time-critical control region 420 may at least partially overlap withthe data region 430.

In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, the location ofeach region may be configured such that certain regions are transmittedand then received (or decoded) in a particular order, which mayfacilitate early decoding of some regions with respect to other regionsof the uplink slot 405 or the uplink slot 405 as a whole. For example,one or more of the regions may be modulated frequency-first, asdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. Modulation symbolspopulated frequency-first may allow for the time-critical control region420 to be transmitted and received before the data region 430 and/or thenon-time-critical control region 425.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a wireless communications message 500supporting channelization of uplink transmissions in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communications message500 may contain an uplink slot 505, which may be an example of theuplink slot 210, 305, or 405 described with reference to FIGS. 2 through4. The uplink slot 505 may include time and frequency resources such asone or more time increments 510 (e.g., DFT-s-OFDM symbols) and one ormore frequency increments 515 (e.g., subcarriers) and may be representedas a time-frequency grid. It should be understood that other incrementsof time and frequency may be used, depending on the type of slot or typeof wireless system employed.

The uplink slot 505 may be divided into a time-critical control region520, a data region 530, and a non-time-critical control region 525. Asshown, the time-critical control region 520 and the non-time-criticalcontrol region 525 may occupy the entire frequency span of the resourcesassigned for uplink slot 505. This configuration may be an example of aTDM design. In some cases, one of time-critical control region 520 orthe non-time-critical control region 525 may occupy the entire frequencyspan of the resources allocated for uplink slot 505. Such an uplinkconfiguration may facilitate reducing signaling overhead, since thecontrol regions occupy the entire frequency span of the resourcesallocated for uplink slot 505. That is, because the control regions spanthe allocated resources, additional signaling may not be needed toindicate a location of the control regions for wireless communicationsmessage 500.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a wireless communications message 600supporting channelization of uplink transmissions in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communications message600 may contain an uplink slot 605, which may be an example of theuplink slot 210, 305, 405, or 505 described with reference to FIGS. 2through 5. The uplink slot 605 may include time and frequency resourcessuch as one or more time increments 610 (e.g., DFT-s-OFDM symbols) andone or more frequency increments 615 (e.g., subcarriers) and may berepresented as a time-frequency grid. It should be understood that otherincrements of time and frequency may be used, depending on the type ofslot or type of wireless system employed.

The uplink slot 605 may be divided into a separate time-critical controlregion 620, a data region 630, and a non-time-critical control region625. Each region may occupy one or more frequency and time resources.The uplink slot 605 may also include a DMRS region 635 that includesDMRS information. The DMRS region 635 may occupy one time increment 610(e.g., one OFDM symbol) as shown or may occupy two or more timeincrements 610 within the uplink slot 605 (e.g., one symbol in each slotof the slot 605). Also, as shown, the DMRS region 635 may span all ofthe frequency resources allocated for the uplink slot 605. In someexamples, the DMRS region 635 spans a subset of the frequency resourcesallocated for the uplink slot 605.

In some examples, the location of a region within the uplink slot 605may be based on the location of the DMRS region 635. For example, thetime-critical control region 620 may be located near (e.g., in thefrequency and/or time domain) the DMRS region 635. Grouping thetime-critical control region 620 near the DMRS region 635 may improvethe accuracy of decoding the control information within thetime-critical control region 620 because the channel properties in andaround the DMRS region 635 may be accurately measured.

Furthermore, the uplink slot 605 may include at least one time increment610 of data at the beginning of the uplink slot 605 and at the end ofthe uplink slot 605. These portions of the data region 630 may bereferred to as a gap between the control regions and the beginning andend of the uplink slot 605.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a flow-diagram 700 between a UE 115-band a base station 105-b supporting channelization of uplinktransmissions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. UE115-b and base station 105-b may be examples of the correspondingdevices described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

At step 705, a wireless connection may be established between UE 115-band base station 105-b. At step 710, the base station 105-b maytransmit, and the UE 115-b may receive, control signaling. The controlsignaling may include PDCCH or RRC signaling. In some cases, the controlsignaling may indicate at least one of frequency-first modulation ortime-first modulation for one or more control regions or data regions ofan uplink slot. Although illustrated as separate steps, the controlsignaling may be transmitted during the connection setup at step 705.

At step 715, the UE 115-b may configure the uplink slot fortransmission. In some cases, the UE 115-b may configure the slot basedon the control signaling received at step 710 and/or during theestablishment of the session at step 705. For example, the UE 115-b maypopulate one or more regions of the uplink slot according to afrequency-first pattern as described with reference to FIGS. 2 through6.

At step 720, the UE 115-b may transmit, and the base station 105-b mayreceive, an uplink slot including a first control region and a secondcontrol region (e.g., and a data region), the first control regionincluding first time resources and first frequency resources, the secondcontrol region including second time resources and second frequencyresources, and the data region including third time resources and thirdfrequency resources. In some cases, transmitting the uplink slotincludes transmitting the first control region in an earlier portion ofthe uplink slot and transmitting the data region and the second controlregion in a later portion of the uplink slot. In some cases,transmitting the uplink slot includes transmitting an entirety of thefirst control region before transmitting an entirety of the data regionand an entirety of the second control region.

In some cases, the first control region, the second control region, orboth span every assigned frequency resource of the uplink slot.Additionally or alternatively, the first control region, or the secondcontrol region, or a combination thereof span every time resource of theuplink slot. That is, a combination of some portion (or all) of thefirst control region with some portion (or all) of the second controlregion may span every time resource of the uplink slot. In some cases,both the first control region and the second control region may spanevery time resource of the uplink slot (e.g., such that they occupydifferent frequency resources). In some such examples, the frequencyresources of the first control region may be decoded before and/or witha higher reliability than the frequency resources of the second controlregion. The first control region may include time-critical controlinformation, which may include an ACK, a NACK, directional communicationinformation, a CQI, a PMI, a RI, a SI, a beam measurement, a SRS, or acombination thereof. The second control region may includenon-time-critical control information, which may include an ACK, a NACK,directional communication information, a CQI, a PMI, a RI, a SI, a beammeasurement, a SRS, or a combination thereof.

In some examples, the uplink slot may include a first gap between afirst end of the uplink slot and a first end of the first controlregion, or a second gap between a second end of the uplink slot and afirst end of the second control region, or both, wherein the first gapor the second gap, or both, comprise at least one time resource.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram 800 of a wireless device 805 that supportschannelization for uplink transmissions in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure. Wireless device 805 may be an exampleof aspects of a UE 115 as described with reference to FIG. 1. Wirelessdevice 805 may include receiver 810, UE channelization manager 815, andtransmitter 820. Wireless device 805 may also include a processor. Eachof these components may be in communication with one another (e.g., viaone or more buses).

The UE channelization manager 815 and/or at least some of its varioussubcomponents may be implemented in hardware, software executed by aprocessor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented insoftware executed by a processor, the functions of the UE channelizationmanager 815 and/or at least some of its various subcomponents may beexecuted by a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor(DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device,discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or anycombination thereof designed to perform the functions described in thepresent disclosure.

The UE channelization manager 815 and/or at least some of its varioussubcomponents may be physically located at various positions, includingbeing distributed such that portions of functions are implemented atdifferent physical locations by one or more physical devices. In someexamples, UE channelization manager 815 may be a separate and distinctcomponent in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.In other examples, UE channelization manager 815 and/or at least some ofits various subcomponents may be combined with one or more otherhardware components, including but not limited to a receiver, atransmitter, a transceiver, one or more other components described inthe present disclosure, or a combination thereof in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure.

Receiver 810 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related tochannelization for uplink transmissions, etc.). Information may bepassed on to other components of the device. The receiver 810 may be anexample of aspects of the transceiver 1135 described with reference toFIG. 11. Receiver 810 may receive control signaling indicating firsttime resources, first frequency resources, second time resources, secondfrequency resources, or any combination thereof.

UE channelization manager 815 may be an example of aspects of the UEchannelization manager 1115 described with reference to FIG. 11. UEchannelization manager 815 may transmit an uplink slot comprising afirst control region and a second control region, the first controlregion including first time resources and first frequency resources andthe second control region including second time resources and secondfrequency resources, wherein transmitting the uplink slot comprisestransmitting the first control region in an earlier portion of theuplink slot and transmitting the second control region in a laterportion of the uplink slot.

Transmitter 820 may transmit signals generated by other components ofthe device. In some examples, the transmitter 820 may be collocated witha receiver 810 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 820may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1135 described withreference to FIG. 11. The transmitter 820 may include a single antenna,or it may include a set of antennas.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram 900 of a wireless device 905 that supportschannelization for uplink transmissions in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure. Wireless device 905 may be an exampleof aspects of a wireless device 805 or a UE 115 as described withreference to FIGS. 1 and 8. Wireless device 905 may include receiver910, UE channelization manager 915, and transmitter 920. Wireless device905 may also include a processor. Each of these components may be incommunication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

Receiver 910 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related tochannelization for uplink transmissions, etc.). Information may bepassed on to other components of the device. The receiver 910 may be anexample of aspects of the transceiver 1135 described with reference toFIG. 11.

UE channelization manager 915 may be an example of aspects of the UEchannelization manager 815 described with reference to FIG. 8 or the UEchannelization manager 1115 described with reference to FIG. 11. The UEchannelization manager 915 and/or at least some of its varioussubcomponents may be implemented in hardware, software executed by aprocessor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented insoftware executed by a processor, the functions of the UE channelizationmanager 915 and/or at least some of its various subcomponents may beexecuted by a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA orother programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic,discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed toperform the functions described in the present disclosure. The UEchannelization manager 915 and/or at least some of its varioussubcomponents may be physically located at various positions, includingbeing distributed such that portions of functions are implemented atdifferent physical locations by one or more physical devices. In someexamples, UE channelization manager 915 may be a separate and distinctcomponent in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.In other examples, UE channelization manager 915 and/or at least some ofits various subcomponents may be combined with one or more otherhardware components, including but not limited to a receiver, atransmitter, or a transceiver in accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure.

UE channelization manager 915 may also include uplink slot component925. Uplink slot component 925 may transmit an uplink slot comprising afirst control region and a second control region, the first controlregion including first time resources and first frequency resources andthe second control region including second time resources and secondfrequency resources, wherein transmitting the uplink slot comprisestransmitting the first control region in an earlier portion of theuplink slot and transmitting the second control region in a laterportion of the uplink slot. In some cases, the frequency resourcesinclude frequency tones. In some cases, the later portion of the uplinkslot further comprises a data region, the data region including thirdtime resources and third frequency resources. In some cases, the firstcontrol region, the second control region, and the data region arescheduled independently from one another.

In some cases, the second control region occupies a subset of the laterportion of the uplink slot and the data region occupies a remainder ofthe later portion of the uplink slot. In some cases, the first frequencyresources, the second frequency resources, or both comprise everyassigned frequency resource of the uplink slot. In some cases, the firstfrequency resources, the second frequency resources, or both comprise asubset of the assigned frequency resources of the uplink slot.

In some cases, the first control region, or the second control region,or a combination thereof may span every time resource of the uplinkslot. In some cases, the first control region includes time-criticalcontrol information. In some cases, the time-critical controlinformation includes a positive ACK, a NACK, directional communicationinformation, CQI, PMI, RI, SI, SRS, a beam strength measurement, or acombination thereof. In some cases, the second control region includesnon-time-critical control information. In some cases, thenon-time-critical control information includes a positive ACK, a NACK,directional communication information, CQI, PMI, RI, SI, SRS, a beamstrength measurement, or a combination thereof.

In some cases, transmitting the uplink slot further includestransmitting an entirety of the first control region before transmittingan entirety of the data region and an entirety of the second controlregion. In some cases, the control signaling includes PDCCH signaling orRRC signaling. In some cases, a location of the first control regionwithin the uplink slot is based on a type of control information in thefirst control region. In some cases, a location of the first controlregion within the uplink slot is based on a location of one or more DMRSwithin the uplink slot.

In some cases, the uplink slot includes a first gap between a first endof the uplink slot and a first end of the first control region, or asecond gap between a second end of the uplink slot and a first end ofthe second control region, or both, where the first gap or the secondgap, or both, includes at least one time resource. In some cases, thetime resources include OFDM symbols or DFT-s-OFDM symbols. In somecases, the control signaling indicates at least one of frequency-firstmodulation or time-first modulation for the first control region, thesecond control region, or the data region.

Transmitter 920 may transmit signals generated by other components ofthe device. In some examples, the transmitter 920 may be collocated witha receiver 910 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 920may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1135 described withreference to FIG. 11. The transmitter 920 may include a single antenna,or it may include a set of antennas.

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram 1000 of a UE channelization manager 1015that supports channelization for uplink transmissions in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure. The UE channelization manager1015 may be an example of aspects of a UE channelization manager 815, aUE channelization manager 915, or a UE channelization manager 1115described with reference to FIGS. 8, 9, and 11, respectively. The UEchannelization manager 1015 may include uplink slot component 1020. Thismodule may communicate, directly or indirectly, with one othercomponents of the wireless device (e.g., via one or more buses).

Uplink slot component 1020 may transmit an uplink slot comprising afirst control region and a second control region, the first controlregion including first time resources and first frequency resources andthe second control region including second time resources and secondfrequency resources, wherein transmitting the uplink slot comprisestransmitting the first control region in an earlier portion of theuplink slot and transmitting the second control region in a laterportion of the uplink slot. In some cases, the frequency resourcesinclude frequency tones. In some cases, the later portion of the uplinkslot further comprises a data region, the data region including thirdtime resources and third frequency resources. In some cases, the firstcontrol region, the second control region, and the data region arescheduled independently from one another.

In some cases, the second control region occupies a subset of the laterportion of the uplink slot and the data region occupies a remainder ofthe later portion of the uplink slot. In some cases, the first frequencyresources, the second frequency resources, or both comprise everyassigned frequency resource of the uplink slot. In some cases, the firstfrequency resources, the second frequency resources, or both comprise asubset of the assigned frequency resources of the uplink slot.

In some cases, the first control region, or the second control region,or a combination thereof may span every time resource of the uplinkslot. In some cases, the first control region includes time-criticalcontrol information. In some cases, the time-critical controlinformation includes a positive ACK, a NACK, directional communicationinformation, CQI, PMI, RI, SI, SRS, a beam strength measurement, or acombination thereof. In some cases, the second control region includesnon-time-critical control information. In some cases, thenon-time-critical control information includes a positive ACK, a NACK,directional communication information, CQI, PMI, RI, SI, SRS, a beamstrength measurement, or a combination thereof.

In some cases, transmitting the uplink slot further includestransmitting an entirety of the first control region before transmittingan entirety of the data region and an entirety of the second controlregion. In some cases, the control signaling includes PDCCH signaling orRRC signaling. In some cases, a location of the first control regionwithin the uplink slot is based on a type of control information in thefirst control region. In some cases, a location of the first controlregion within the uplink slot is based on a location of one or more DMRSwithin the uplink slot.

In some cases, the uplink slot includes a first gap between a first endof the uplink slot and a first end of the first control region, or asecond gap between a second end of the uplink slot and a first end ofthe second control region, or both, where the first gap or the secondgap, or both, includes at least one time resource. In some cases, thetime resources include OFDM symbols or DFT-s-OFDM symbols. In somecases, the control signaling indicates at least one of frequency-firstmodulation or time-first modulation for the first control region, thesecond control region, or the data region.

FIG. 11 shows a diagram of a system 1100 including a device 1105 thatsupports channelization for uplink transmissions in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure. Device 1105 may be an exampleof or includes the components of wireless device 805, wireless device905, or a UE 115 as described above, e.g., with reference to FIGS. 1, 8and 9. Device 1105 may include components for bi-directional voice anddata communications including components for transmitting and receivingcommunications, including UE channelization manager 1115, processor1120, memory 1125, software 1130, transceiver 1135, antenna 1140, andI/O controller 1145. These components may communicate electronically viaone or more buses (e.g., bus 1110). Device 1105 may communicatewirelessly with one or more base stations 105.

Processor 1120 may include an intelligent hardware device, (e.g., ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, a central processing unit (CPU), amicrocontroller, an ASIC, a FPGA, a programmable logic device, adiscrete gate or transistor logic component, a discrete hardwarecomponent, or any combination thereof). In some cases, processor 1120may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller.In other cases, a memory controller may be integrated into processor1120. Processor 1120 may be configured to execute computer-readableinstructions stored in memory 1125 to perform various functions (e.g.,functions or tasks supporting channelization for uplink transmissions).

Memory 1125 may include random access memory (RAM) and read only memory(ROM). The memory 1125 may store computer-readable, computer-executablesoftware 1130 including instructions that, when executed, cause theprocessor to perform various functions described herein. In some cases,the memory 1125 may contain, among other things, a basic input/outputsystem (BIOS) which may control basic hardware and/or software operationsuch as the interaction with peripheral components or devices.

Software 1130 may include code to implement aspects of the presentdisclosure, including code to support channelization for uplinktransmissions. Software 1130 may be stored in a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium such as system memory or other memory. In somecases, the software 1130 may not be directly executable by the processorbut may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled and executed) to performfunctions described herein.

Transceiver 1135 may communicate bi-directionally, via one or moreantennas 1140, wired, or wireless links as described above. For example,the transceiver 1135 may represent a wireless transceiver and maycommunicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. Thetransceiver 1135 may also include a modem to modulate the packets andprovide the modulated packets to the antennas for transmission, anddemodulate packets received from the antennas.

In some cases, the wireless device may include a single antenna 1140.However, in some cases the device may have more than one antenna 1140,which may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiplewireless transmissions.

I/O controller 1145 may manage input and output signals for device 1105.I/O controller 1145 may also manage peripherals not integrated intodevice 1105. In some cases, I/O controller 1145 may represent a physicalconnection or port to an external peripheral. In some cases, I/Ocontroller 1145 may utilize an operating system such as iOS®, ANDROID®,MS-DOS®, MS-WINDOWS®, OS/2®, UNIX®, LINUX®, or another known operatingsystem.

FIG. 12 shows a block diagram 1200 of a wireless device 1205 thatsupports channelization for uplink transmissions in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless device 1205 may bean example of aspects of a base station 105 as described with referenceto FIG. 1. Wireless device 1205 may include receiver 1210, base stationchannelization manager 1215, and transmitter 1220. Wireless device 1205may also include a processor. Each of these components may be incommunication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

Receiver 1210 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related tochannelization for uplink transmissions, etc.). Information may bepassed on to other components of the device. The receiver 1210 may be anexample of aspects of the transceiver 1535 described with reference toFIG. 15. The base station channelization manager 1215 and/or at leastsome of its various subcomponents may be implemented in hardware,software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof.If implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions of thebase station channelization manager 1215 and/or at least some of itsvarious subcomponents may be executed by a general-purpose processor, aDSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gateor transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combinationthereof designed to perform the functions described in the presentdisclosure. The base station channelization manager 1215 and/or at leastsome of its various subcomponents may be physically located at variouspositions, including being distributed such that portions of functionsare implemented at different physical locations by one or more physicaldevices. In some examples, base station channelization manager 1215 maybe a separate and distinct component in accordance with various aspectsof the present disclosure. In other examples, base stationchannelization manager 1215 and/or at least some of its varioussubcomponents may be combined with one or more other hardwarecomponents, including but not limited to a receiver, a transmitter, or atransceiver in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure.

Base station channelization manager 1215 may be an example of aspects ofthe base station channelization manager 1515 described with reference toFIG. 15. Base station channelization manager 1215 may receive an uplinkslot comprising a first control region and a second control region, thefirst control region including first time resources and first frequencyresources and the second control region including second time resourcesand second frequency resources, wherein receiving the uplink slotcomprises receiving the first control region in an earlier portion ofthe uplink slot and receiving the second control region in a laterportion of the uplink slot.

Transmitter 1220 may transmit signals generated by other components ofthe device. In some examples, the transmitter 1220 may be collocatedwith a receiver 1210 in a transceiver module. For example, thetransmitter 1220 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1535described with reference to FIG. 15. The transmitter 1220 may include asingle antenna, or it may include a set of antennas. Transmitter 1220may transmit control signaling indicating first time resources, firstfrequency resources, second time resources, second frequency resources,or any combination thereof.

FIG. 13 shows a block diagram 1300 of a wireless device 1305 thatsupports channelization for uplink transmissions in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless device 1305 may bean example of aspects of a wireless device 1205 or a base station 105 asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 1 and 12. Wireless device 1305 mayinclude receiver 1310, base station channelization manager 1315, andtransmitter 1320. Wireless device 1305 may also include a processor.Each of these components may be in communication with one another (e.g.,via one or more buses).

Receiver 1310 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related tochannelization for uplink transmissions, etc.). Information may bepassed on to other components of the device. The receiver 1310 may be anexample of aspects of the transceiver 1535 described with reference toFIG. 15.

Base station channelization manager 1315 may be an example of aspects ofthe base station channelization manager 1515 described with reference toFIG. 15. Base station channelization manager 1315 may also include anuplink slot component 1325.

Uplink slot component 1325 may receive an uplink slot comprising a firstcontrol region and a second control region, the first control regionincluding first time resources and first frequency resources and thesecond control region including second time resources and secondfrequency resources, wherein receiving the uplink slot comprisesreceiving the first control region in an earlier portion of the uplinkslot and receiving the second control region in a later portion of theuplink slot. In some cases, the frequency resources include frequencytones. In some cases, the later portion of the uplink slot furthercomprises a data region, the data region including third time resourcesand third frequency resources. In some cases, the first control region,the second control region, and the data region are scheduledindependently from one another.

In some cases, the second control region occupies a subset of the laterportion of the uplink slot and the data region occupies a remainder ofthe later portion of the uplink slot. In some cases, the first frequencyresources, the second frequency resources, or both comprise everyassigned frequency resource of the uplink slot. In some cases, the firstfrequency resources, the second frequency resources, or both comprise asubset of the assigned frequency resources of the uplink slot.

In some cases, the first control region, or the second control region,or a combination thereof may span every time resource of the uplinkslot. In some cases, the first control region includes time-criticalcontrol information. In some cases, the time-critical controlinformation includes a positive ACK, a NACK, directional communicationinformation, CQI, PMI, RI, SI, SRS, a beam strength measurement, or acombination thereof. In some cases, the second control region includesnon-time-critical control information. In some cases, thenon-time-critical control information includes a positive ACK, a NACK,directional communication information, CQI, PMI, RI, SI, SRS, a beamstrength measurement, or a combination thereof.

In some cases, transmitting the uplink slot further includestransmitting an entirety of the first control region before transmittingan entirety of the data region and an entirety of the second controlregion. In some cases, the control signaling includes PDCCH signaling orRRC signaling. In some cases, a location of the first control regionwithin the uplink slot is based on a type of control information in thefirst control region. In some cases, a location of the first controlregion within the uplink slot is based on a location of one or more DMRSwithin the uplink slot.

In some cases, the uplink slot includes a first gap between a first endof the uplink slot and a first end of the first control region, or asecond gap between a second end of the uplink slot and a first end ofthe second control region, or both, where the first gap or the secondgap, or both, includes at least one time resource. In some cases, thetime resources include OFDM symbols or DFT-s-OFDM symbols. In somecases, the control signaling indicates at least one of frequency-firstmodulation or time-first modulation for the first control region, thesecond control region, or the data region.

Transmitter 1320 may transmit signals generated by other components ofthe device. In some examples, the transmitter 1320 may be collocatedwith a receiver 1310 in a transceiver module. For example, thetransmitter 1320 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1535described with reference to FIG. 15. The transmitter 1320 may include asingle antenna, or it may include a set of antennas.

FIG. 14 shows a block diagram 1400 of a base station channelizationmanager 1415 that supports channelization for uplink transmissions inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The basestation channelization manager 1415 may be an example of aspects of abase station channelization manager 1215, a base station channelizationmanager 1315, or a base station channelization manager 1515 describedwith reference to FIGS. 12, 13, and 15. The base station channelizationmanager 1415 may include uplink slot component 1420. This module maycommunicate, directly or indirectly, with one or more other componentsof the wireless device (e.g., via one or more buses).

Uplink slot component 1420 may receive an uplink slot comprising a firstcontrol region and a second control region, the first control regionincluding first time resources and first frequency resources and thesecond control region including second time resources and secondfrequency resources, wherein receiving the uplink slot comprisesreceiving the first control region in an earlier portion of the uplinkslot and receiving the second control region in a later portion of theuplink slot. In some cases, the frequency resources include frequencytones. In some cases, the later portion of the uplink slot furthercomprises a data region, the data region including third time resourcesand third frequency resources. In some cases, the first control region,the second control region, and the data region are scheduledindependently from one another.

In some cases, the second control region occupies a subset of the laterportion of the uplink slot and the data region occupies a remainder ofthe later portion of the uplink slot. In some cases, the first frequencyresources, the second frequency resources, or both comprise everyassigned frequency resource of the uplink slot. In some cases, the firstfrequency resources, the second frequency resources, or both comprise asubset of the assigned frequency resources of the uplink slot.

In some cases, the first control region, or the second control region,or a combination thereof may span every time resource of the uplinkslot. In some cases, the first control region includes time-criticalcontrol information. In some cases, the time-critical controlinformation includes a positive ACK, a NACK, directional communicationinformation, CQI, PMI, RI, SI, SRS, a beam strength measurement, or acombination thereof. In some cases, the second control region includesnon-time-critical control information. In some cases, thenon-time-critical control information includes a positive ACK, a NACK,directional communication information, CQI, PMI, RI, SI, SRS, a beamstrength measurement, or a combination thereof.

In some cases, receiving the uplink slot further includes receiving anentirety of the first control region before receiving an entirety of thedata region and an entirety of the second control region. In some cases,the control signaling includes PDCCH signaling or RRC signaling. In somecases, a location of the first control region within the uplink slot isbased on a type of control information in the first control region. Insome cases, a location of the first control region within the uplinkslot is based on a location of one or more DMRS within the uplink slot.

In some cases, the uplink slot includes a first gap between a first endof the uplink slot and a first end of the first control region, or asecond gap between a second end of the uplink slot and a first end ofthe second control region, or both, where the first gap or the secondgap, or both, includes at least one time resource. In some cases, thetime resources include OFDM symbols or DFT-s-OFDM symbols. In somecases, the control signaling indicates at least one of frequency-firstmodulation or time-first modulation for the first control region, thesecond control region, or the data region.

FIG. 15 shows a diagram of a system 1500 including a device 1505 thatsupports channelization for uplink transmissions in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure. Device 1505 may be an exampleof or include the components of base station 105 as described above,e.g., with reference to FIG. 1. Device 1505 may include components forbi-directional voice and data communications including components fortransmitting and receiving communications, including base stationchannelization manager 1515, processor 1520, memory 1525, software 1530,transceiver 1535, antenna 1540, network communications manager 1545, andbase station communications manager 1550. These components maycommunicate electronically via one or more buses (e.g., bus 1510).Device 1505 may communicate wirelessly with one or more UEs 115.

The base station channelization manager 1515 may be implemented inhardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combinationthereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, thefunctions of the base station channelization manager 1515 may beexecuted by a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA orother programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic,discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed toperform the functions described in the present disclosure. The basestation channelization manager 1515 may be physically located at variouspositions, including being distributed such that portions of functionsare implemented at different physical locations by one or more physicaldevices. In some examples, base station channelization manager 1515 maybe a separate and distinct component in accordance with various aspectsof the present disclosure. In other examples, base stationchannelization manager 1515 may be combined with one or more otherhardware components, including but not limited to a receiver, atransmitter, or a transceiver in accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure.

Processor 1520 may include an intelligent hardware device, (e.g., ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, a microcontroller, an ASIC, anFPGA, a programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logiccomponent, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof).In some cases, processor 1520 may be configured to operate a memoryarray using a memory controller. In other cases, a memory controller maybe integrated into processor 1520. Processor 1520 may be configured toexecute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory to performvarious functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting channelizationfor uplink transmissions).

Memory 1525 may include RAM and ROM. The memory 1525 may storecomputer-readable, computer-executable software 1530 includinginstructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform variousfunctions described herein. In some cases, the memory 1525 may contain,among other things, a BIOS which may control basic hardware and/orsoftware operation such as the interaction with peripheral components ordevices.

Software 1530 may include code to implement aspects of the presentdisclosure, including code to support channelization for uplinktransmissions. Software 1530 may be stored in a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium such as system memory or other memory. In somecases, the software 1530 may not be directly executable by the processorbut may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled and executed) to performfunctions described herein.

Transceiver 1535 may communicate bi-directionally, via one or moreantennas, wired, or wireless links as described above. For example, thetransceiver 1535 may represent a wireless transceiver and maycommunicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. Thetransceiver 1535 may also include a modem to modulate the packets andprovide the modulated packets to the antennas for transmission, anddemodulate packets received from the antennas.

In some cases, the wireless device may include a single antenna 1540.However, in some cases the device may have more than one antenna 1540,which may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiplewireless transmissions.

Network communications manager 1545 may manage communications with thecore network 130 (e.g., via one or more wired backhaul links). Forexample, the network communications manager 1545 may manage the transferof data communications for client devices, such as one or more UEs 115.

Base station communications manager 1550 may manage communications withbase stations 105, and may include a controller or scheduler forcontrolling communications with UEs 115 in cooperation with other basestations 105. For example, the base station communications manager 1550may coordinate scheduling for transmissions to UEs 115 for variousinterference mitigation techniques such as beamforming or jointtransmission. In some examples, base station communications manager 1550may provide a X2 interface within a LTE/LTE-A wireless communicationnetwork to provide communication between base stations 105.

The network communications manager 1545 and the base stationcommunications manager 1550 may be implemented in hardware, softwareexecuted by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. Ifimplemented in software executed by a processor, the functions of thenetwork communications manager 1545 and the base station communicationsmanager 1550 may be executed by a general-purpose processor, acontroller, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device,discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or anycombination thereof designed to perform the functions described in thepresent disclosure. The network communications manager 1545 and the basestation communications manager 1550 may be physically located at variouspositions, including being distributed such that portions of functionsare implemented at different physical locations by one or more physicaldevices. In some examples, network communications manager 1545 and thebase station communications manager 1550 may be a separate and distinctcomponent in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.In other examples, each of the network communications manager 1545 andthe base station communications manager 1550 may be combined with one ormore other hardware components, including but not limited to a receiver,a transmitter, or a transceiver in accordance with various aspects ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 16 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1600 for channelizationfor uplink transmissions in accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure. The operations of method 1600 may be implemented bya UE 115 or its components as described herein. For example, theoperations of method 1600 may be performed by a UE channelizationmanager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11. In someexamples, a UE 115 may execute a set of codes to control the functionalelements of the device to perform the functions described below.Additionally or alternatively, the UE 115 may perform aspects of thefunctions described below using special-purpose hardware.

At block 1605 the UE 115 may transmit an uplink slot comprising a firstcontrol region and a second control region, the first control regionincluding first time resources and first frequency resources and thesecond control region including second time resources and secondfrequency resources, wherein transmitting the uplink slot comprisestransmitting the first control region in an earlier portion of theuplink slot and transmitting the second control region in a laterportion of the uplink slot. The operations of block 1605 may beperformed according to the methods described with reference to FIGS. 1through 7. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of block 1605may be performed by an uplink slot component as described with referenceto FIGS. 8 through 11.

FIG. 17 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1700 for channelizationfor uplink transmissions in accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure. The operations of method 1700 may be implemented bya UE 115 or its components as described herein. For example, theoperations of method 1700 may be performed by a UE channelizationmanager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11. In someexamples, a UE 115 may execute a set of codes to control the functionalelements of the device to perform the functions described below.Additionally or alternatively, the UE 115 may perform aspects of thefunctions described below using special-purpose hardware.

At block 1705 the UE 115 may receive control signaling indicating firsttime resources, first frequency resources, second time resources, secondfrequency resources, or any combination thereof. The operations of block1705 may be performed according to the methods described with referenceto FIGS. 1 through 7. In certain examples, aspects of the operations ofblock 1705 may be performed by a receiver as described with reference toFIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1710 the UE 115 may transmit an uplink slot comprising a firstcontrol region and a second control region, the first control regionincluding first time resources and first frequency resources and thesecond control region including second time resources and secondfrequency resources, wherein transmitting the uplink slot comprisestransmitting the first control region in an earlier portion of theuplink slot and transmitting the second control region in a laterportion of the uplink slot. The operations of block 1710 may beperformed according to the methods described with reference to FIGS. 1through 7. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of block 1710may be performed by a uplink slot component as described with referenceto FIGS. 8 through 11.

FIG. 18 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1800 for channelizationfor uplink transmissions in accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure. The operations of method 1800 may be implemented bya base station 105 or its components as described herein. For example,the operations of method 1800 may be performed by a base stationchannelization manager as described with reference to FIGS. 12 through15. In some examples, a base station 105 may execute a set of codes tocontrol the functional elements of the device to perform the functionsdescribed below. Additionally or alternatively, the base station 105 mayperform aspects of the functions described below using special-purposehardware.

At block 1805 the base station 105 may receive an uplink slot comprisinga first control region and a second control region, the first controlregion including first time resources and first frequency resources andthe second control region including second time resources and secondfrequency resources, wherein receiving the uplink slot comprisesreceiving the first control region in an earlier portion of the uplinkslot and receiving the second control region in a later portion of theuplink slot. The operations of block 1805 may be performed according tothe methods described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 7. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1805 may be performed by auplink slot component as described with reference to FIGS. 12 through15.

FIG. 19 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1900 for channelizationfor uplink transmissions in accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure. The operations of method 1900 may be implemented bya base station 105 or its components as described herein. For example,the operations of method 1900 may be performed by a base stationchannelization manager as described with reference to FIGS. 12 through15. In some examples, a base station 105 may execute a set of codes tocontrol the functional elements of the device to perform the functionsdescribed below. Additionally or alternatively, the base station 105 mayperform aspects of the functions described below using special-purposehardware.

At block 1905 the base station 105 may transmit control signalingindicating first time resources, first frequency resources, second timeresources, second frequency resources, or any combination thereof. Theoperations of block 1905 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed with reference to FIGS. 1 through 7. In certain examples,aspects of the operations of block 1905 may be performed by atransmitter as described with reference to FIGS. 12 through 15.

At block 1910 the base station 105 may receive an uplink slot comprisinga first control region and a second control region, the first controlregion including first time resources and first frequency resources andthe second control region including second time resources and secondfrequency resources, wherein receiving the uplink slot comprisesreceiving the first control region in an earlier portion of the uplinkslot and receiving the second control region in a later portion of theuplink slot. The operations of block 1910 may be performed according tothe methods described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 7. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1910 may be performed by auplink slot component as described with reference to FIGS. 12 through15.

It should be noted that the methods described above describe possibleimplementations, and that the operations and the steps may be rearrangedor otherwise modified and that other implementations are possible.Furthermore, aspects from two or more of the methods 1600, 1700, 1800,and 1900 described with reference to FIGS. 16, 17, 18, and 19 may becombined.

Techniques described herein may be used for various wirelesscommunications systems such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, andother systems. The terms “system” and “network” are often usedinterchangeably. A CDMA system may implement a radio technology such asCDMA2000, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), etc. CDMA2000covers IS-2000, IS-95, and IS-856 standards. IS-2000 Releases may becommonly referred to as CDMA2000 1×, 1×, etc. IS-856 (TIA-856) iscommonly referred to as CDMA2000 1×EV-DO, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD),etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. ATDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Global System forMobile Communications (GSM).

An OFDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Ultra MobileBroadband (UMB), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE802.20, Flash-OFDM, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal MobileTelecommunications system (UMTS). 3GPP LTE and LTE-A are releases ofUMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, and GSM aredescribed in documents from the organization named “3rd GenerationPartnership Project” (3GPP). CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documentsfrom an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2”(3GPP2). The techniques described herein may be used for the systems andradio technologies mentioned above as well as other systems and radiotechnologies. While aspects of an LTE system may be described forpurposes of example, and LTE terminology may be used in much of thedescription, the techniques described herein are applicable beyond LTEapplications.

In LTE/LTE-A networks, including such networks described herein, theterm eNB may be generally used to describe the base stations. Thewireless communications system or systems described herein may include aheterogeneous LTE/LTE-A network in which different types of eNBs providecoverage for various geographical regions. For example, each eNB or basestation may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a smallcell, or other types of cell. The term “cell” may be used to describe abase station, a carrier or component carrier associated with a basestation, or a coverage area (e.g., sector, etc.) of a carrier or basestation, depending on context.

Base stations may include or may be referred to by those skilled in theart as a base transceiver station, a radio base station, an accesspoint, a radio transceiver, a NodeB, eNB, Home NodeB, a Home eNodeB, orsome other suitable terminology. The geographic coverage area for a basestation may be divided into sectors making up only a portion of thecoverage area. The wireless communications system or systems describedherein may include base stations of different types (e.g., macro orsmall cell base stations). The UEs described herein may be able tocommunicate with various types of base stations and network equipmentincluding macro eNBs, small cell eNBs, relay base stations, and thelike. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas for differenttechnologies.

A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g.,several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEswith service subscriptions with the network provider. A small cell is alower-powered base station, as compared with a macro cell, that mayoperate in the same or different (e.g., licensed, unlicensed, acombination of licensed and unlicensed, etc.) frequency bands as macrocells. Small cells may include pico cells, femto cells, and micro cellsaccording to various examples. A pico cell, for example, may cover asmall geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs withservice subscriptions with the network provider. A femto cell may alsocover a small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may provide restrictedaccess by UEs having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in aclosed subscriber group (CSG), UEs for users in the home, and the like).An eNB for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro eNB. An eNB for asmall cell may be referred to as a small cell eNB, a pico eNB, a femtoeNB, a gNB, or a home eNB. An eNB may support one or multiple (e.g.,two, three, four, and the like) cells (e.g., component carriers). A UEmay be able to communicate with various types of base stations andnetwork equipment including macro eNBs, small cell eNBs, relay basestations, and the like.

The wireless communications system or systems described herein maysupport synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronousoperation, the base stations may have similar frame timing, andtransmissions from different base stations may be approximately alignedin time. For asynchronous operation, the base stations may havedifferent frame timing, and transmissions from different base stationsmay not be aligned in time. The techniques described herein may be usedfor either synchronous or asynchronous operations.

The downlink transmissions described herein may also be called forwardlink transmissions while the uplink transmissions may also be calledreverse link transmissions. Each communication link describedherein—including, for example, wireless communications system 100 and200 of FIGS. 1 and 2—may include one or more carriers, where eachcarrier may be a signal made up of multiple sub-carriers (e.g., waveformsignals of different frequencies).

The description set forth herein, in connection with the appendeddrawings, describes example configurations and does not represent allthe examples that may be implemented or that are within the scope of theclaims. The term “exemplary” used herein means “serving as an example,instance, or illustration,” and not “preferred” or “advantageous overother examples.” The detailed description includes specific details forthe purpose of providing an understanding of the described techniques.These techniques, however, may be practiced without these specificdetails. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shownin block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of thedescribed examples.

In the appended figures, similar components or features may have thesame reference label. Further, various components of the same type maybe distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a secondlabel that distinguishes among the similar components. If just the firstreference label is used in the specification, the description isapplicable to any one of the similar components having the same firstreference label irrespective of the second reference label.

Information and signals described herein may be represented using any ofa variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data,instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chipsthat may be referenced throughout the above description may berepresented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magneticfields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combinationthereof.

The various illustrative blocks and modules described in connection withthe disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmablelogic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardwarecomponents, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functionsdescribed herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor,but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or moremicroprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration).

The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, softwareexecuted by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. Ifimplemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may bestored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are withinthe scope of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to thenature of software, functions described above can be implemented usingsoftware executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, orcombinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may alsobe physically located at various positions, including being distributedsuch that portions of functions are implemented at different physicallocations. As used herein, including in the claims, the term “and/or,”when used in a list of two or more items, means that any one of thelisted items can be employed by itself, or any combination of two ormore of the listed items can be employed. For example, if a compositionis described as containing components A, B, and/or C, the compositioncan contain A alone; B alone; C alone; A and B in combination; A and Cin combination; B and C in combination; or A, B, and C in combination.Also, as used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list ofitems (for example, a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as “atleast one of” or “one or more of”) indicates an inclusive list suchthat, for example, a phrase referring to “at least one of” a list ofitems refers to any combination of those items, including singlemembers. As an example, “at least one of: A, B, or C” is intended tocover A, B, C, A-B, A-C, B-C, and A-B-C, as well as any combination withmultiples of the same element (e.g., A-A, A-A-A, A-A-B, A-A-C, A-B-B,A-C-C, B-B, B-B-B, B-B-C, C-C, and C-C-C or any other ordering of A, B,and C). Also, as used herein, the phrase “based on” shall not beconstrued as a reference to a closed set of conditions. For example, anexemplary step that is described as “based on condition A” may be basedon both a condition A and a condition B without departing from the scopeof the present disclosure. In other words, as used herein, the phrase“based on” shall be construed in the same manner as the phrase “based atleast in part on.”

Computer-readable media includes both non-transitory computer storagemedia and communication media including any medium that facilitatestransfer of a computer program from one place to another. Anon-transitory storage medium may be any available medium that can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way ofexample, and not limitation, non-transitory computer-readable media maycomprise RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable read only memory(EEPROM), compact disk (CD) ROM or other optical disk storage, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othernon-transitory medium that can be used to carry or store desired programcode means in the form of instructions or data structures and that canbe accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or ageneral-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also, any connection isproperly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the softwareis transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using acoaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line(DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave,then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digitalsubscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio,and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc,as used herein, include CD, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatiledisc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproducedata magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.Combinations of the above are also included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media.

The description herein is provided to enable a person skilled in the artto make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosurewill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the genericprinciples defined herein may be applied to other variations withoutdeparting from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is notlimited to the examples and designs described herein, but is to beaccorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novelfeatures disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for wireless communication, comprising:populating symbols within an uplink slot based at least in part on afrequency-first modulation scheme; and transmitting the uplink slotbased at least in part on populating the symbols, the uplink slotcomprising a first control region and a second control region, the firstcontrol region including first time resources and first frequencyresources, and the second control region including second time resourcesand second frequency resources, wherein: the first control region istransmitted in an earlier portion of the uplink slot than the secondcontrol region; the second control region is transmitted in a laterportion of the uplink slot than the first control region; the firstcontrol region, or the second control region, or a combination thereofspan every time resource of the uplink slot; and a last portion of thefirst control region is transmitted before a last portion of the secondcontrol region.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the uplink slotfurther comprises a data region, the data region including third timeresources and third frequency resources.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein the data region at least partially overlaps in frequency withthe first control region or the second control region.
 4. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the data region spans every time resource of the uplinkslot.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first frequency resourcesand the second frequency resources do not overlap.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first frequency resources, the second frequencyresources, or both, comprise a subset of assigned frequency resources ofthe uplink slot.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first controlregion comprises time-critical control information and the secondcontrol region comprises non-time-critical control information.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the time-critical control informationcomprises acknowledgement information.
 9. The method of claim 7, whereinthe non-time-critical control information comprises directionalcommunication information, a channel quality indication (CQI), aprecoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rank indicator (RI), a schedulinginformation indicator (SI), a sounding reference signal (SRS), a beamstrength measurement, or a combination thereof.
 10. The method of claim1, wherein the first control region and the second control region arescheduled independently from one another by separate scheduling grants.11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first control region and thesecond control region are scheduled independently from one another byseparate portions of a scheduling grant.
 12. A method for wirelesscommunication, comprising: receiving an uplink slot comprising a firstcontrol region and a second control region, the first control regionincluding first time resources and first frequency resources, and thesecond control region including second time resources and secondfrequency resources, wherein: symbols within the uplink slot arereceived based at least in part on a frequency-first modulation scheme;the first control region is received in an earlier portion of the uplinkslot than the second control region; the second control region isreceived in a later portion of the uplink slot than the first controlregion; the first control region, or the second control region, or acombination thereof span every time resource of the uplink slot; and alast portion of the first control region is received before a lastportion of the second control region.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein the uplink slot further comprises a data region, the data regionincluding third time resources and third frequency resources.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the data region at least partially overlapsin frequency with the first control region or the second control region.15. The method of claim 13, wherein the data region spans every timeresource of the uplink slot.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein thefirst frequency resources and the second frequency resources do notoverlap.
 17. The method of claim 12, wherein the first frequencyresources, the second frequency resources, or both, comprise a subset ofassigned frequency resources of the uplink slot.
 18. The method of claim12, wherein the first control region comprises time-critical controlinformation and the second control region comprises non-time-criticalcontrol information.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein thetime-critical control information comprises acknowledgement information.20. The method of claim 18, wherein the non-time-critical controlinformation comprises directional communication information, a channelquality indication (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rankindicator (RI), a scheduling information indicator (SI), a soundingreference signal (SRS), a beam strength measurement, or a combinationthereof.
 21. An apparatus for wireless communication, in a systemcomprising: a processor; memory in electronic communication with theprocessor; and instructions stored in the memory and operable, whenexecuted by the processor, to cause the apparatus to: populate symbolswithin an uplink slot based at least in part on a frequency-firstmodulation scheme; and transmit the uplink slot based at least in parton populating the symbols, the uplink slot comprising a first controlregion and a second control region, the first control region includingfirst time resources and first frequency resources, and the secondcontrol region including second time resources and second frequencyresources, wherein: the first control region is transmitted in anearlier portion of the uplink slot than the second control region; thesecond control region is transmitted in a later portion of the uplinkslot than the first control region; the first control region, or thesecond control region, or a combination thereof span every time resourceof the uplink slot; and a last portion of the first control region istransmitted before a last portion of the second control region.
 22. Theapparatus of claim 21, wherein the uplink slot further comprises a dataregion, the data region including third time resources and thirdfrequency resources.
 23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the dataregion at least partially overlaps in frequency with the first controlregion or the second control region.
 24. An apparatus for wirelesscommunication, in a system comprising: a processor; memory in electroniccommunication with the processor; and instructions stored in the memoryand operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to:receive an uplink slot comprising a first control region and a secondcontrol region, the first control region including first time resourcesand first frequency resources, and the second control region includingsecond time resources and second frequency resources, wherein: symbolswithin the uplink slot are received based at least in part on afrequency-first modulation scheme; the first control region is receivedin an earlier portion of the uplink slot than the second control region;the second control region is received in a later portion of the uplinkslot than the first control region; the first control region, or thesecond control region, or a combination thereof span every time resourceof the uplink slot; and a last portion of the first control region isreceived before a last portion of the second control region.
 25. Theapparatus of claim 24, wherein the uplink slot further comprises a dataregion, the data region including third time resources and thirdfrequency resources.
 26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the dataregion at least partially overlaps in frequency with the first controlregion or the second control region.